Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 - NSW Ombudsman - NSW ...

crimes scenes and therefore it may provide valuable intelligence information to investigating police. Both NSW Police
and DAL keep records of cold links. 360
DAL advised it made over 4,000 cold links during the review period. The majority of these were for high volume
offences, including break, enter and steal (2,884), stolen motor vehicle (585), steal from vehicle (245) and malicious
damage (47). However, a significant number were for serious offences, including murder and manslaughter (13),
sexual assault (68), robbery (267) and assault (25). 361 These results are very good – they demonstrate that DNA
analysis is providing further evidence in unsolved crimes, including the most serious types of offences.
DNA profiling may link an offender to more than one crime scene. DAL advised that during the review period, 124
people were each linked to between five and ten crime scenes, and 17 people were linked to more than 10 crime
scenes (including one person who was linked to 25 different crime scenes). In total, 2,251 people have been linked to
crime scenes through cold links. These results demonstrate that DNA analysis has been useful in identifying patterns
of possible repeated criminal conduct. 362
5.4.3. Convictions
We sought to assess how often DNA analysis results in a suspect being prosecuted for or convicted of an offence.
Looking at the number of convictions stemming from cold links is a limited way of measuring the effectiveness of
forensic procedures. 363 However, it appears that neither DAL nor NSW Police keep complete records relating to
criminal proceedings stemming from all DNA links.
FPIT has kept records of convictions stemming from cold links since the New South Wales DNA database
commenced operation in late 2001. 364 Table 3 shows the number of suspects identified through cold links and any
convictions recorded, from January 2002 to December 2004, for some categories of crime.
In this table, identifications are recorded by FPIT as the number of instances that a person is ‘cold’ linked to a crime
scene. Included in this figure will be persons counted more than once when they have had multiple links. The number
of convictions recorded represents the number of offences that have been finalised in court, not necessarily the
number of people convicted. This is because one person may be convicted of multiple offences. 365
Table 03: Results of cold links by offence type 2002 to 2004
Offence No. of person identifications No. of convictions recorded*
Murder 15 1
Attempted murder 3 4
Armed robbery 200 32
Aggravated robbery 55 3
Sexual assault 30 2
Aggravated sexual assault 35 18
Assault 13 3
Aggravated assault 13 3
Home invasion 13 7
Break enter and steal 2,917 1,512
Aggravated break enter and steal 73 27
Steal motor vehicle 589 229
Malicious damage 50 17
Steal from motor vehicle 286 166
Stealing 50 27
* Convictions are recorded against the period in which the identification occurred. The number of convictions may be higher than the number
of identifications because a person may be identified for one type of offence but convicted for another.
Source: Information supplied by FPIT on 22 June 2005.
NSW Ombudsman
DNA sampling and other forensic procedures conducted on suspects and volunteers under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 65